


Case Closed

by zenonaa



Series: Leon's House Party [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 18:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1698488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But rather than make excuses, which Kyouko was accustomed to, Sayaka offered Kyouko her hand instead. “I’m sorry. I have a bad habit of being too forward... Let me make it up to you.” </p><p>Sayaka teaches Kyouko how to ice skate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Case Closed

No one managed to catch Kyouko Kirigiri’s eye during her first few weeks at Hope’s Peak, or at least they never maintained her interest. For a school of gifted teenagers, they came across as remarkably unremarkable and once she thought she knew all she needed to know about someone, she made no marked effort to keep up relations. Prolonged interactions, particularly of the kind that spawned attachment and affection, had no business with her. Not after her father left. He trod on the string connected to their hearts and snapped it when he shut the door behind him, and Kyouko became adamant she never allow herself to replicate such an error of judgment.

To earn her company, someone else had to make the effort. She no longer chased after such thing.

Within her class, notable people who temporarily caught her attention were as follows:

Touko Fukawa, a taciturn girl different from the persona her books hinted at. She couldn’t stand blood judging by how she went outside while everyone else watched a video containing blood in biology class, a stark contrast to Kyouko, and she couldn’t stand most people. The exception being austere Byakuya Togami who evoked no interest in Kyouko either.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, simply because he made people pay attention to him with the commands he boomed without a second thought. Stand. Bow. Sit down. But because Kyouko focused on her work, braid sitting in a spiral pile on her desk, he didn’t involve himself too much with her.

Interestingly enough, the first person to truly catch Kyouko’s attention was the most simple person to read. Makoto Naegi. He had an openness which caught her off guard, where he didn’t consciously choose which expressions to show the world and which to lock away. The Super High School Level Good Luck student, who one would assume to be the most boring, received the most attention from their peers.

The rest of the class dissolved into questions at the back of her mind. Why did Chihiro Fujisaki always decline Aoi Asahina’s invitations to swim? If Leon Kuwata enrolled at this school as Super High School Level Baseball Player, why did he spend more time trying to form a band than playing baseball? What was Celestia Ludenberg’s real name?

Kyouko spent so much time facing forward, watching her class and studying their habits, learning about them as much as she could without having to involve herself with them, that she didn’t realise she caught the eye of the person who sat at the desk behind hers.

Not until one lunchtime when a finger prodded her shoulder.

The finger belonged to Sayaka Maizono. “Hi! You’re Kyouko Kirigiri, aren’t you?”

Kyouko met her eye. “... I am.”

“Do you mind if we eat together?”

“Go ahead.” She faced forward.

Chair legs scraped across the floor and Sayaka returned to view, seated beside Kyouko’s desk. Sayaka placed her bento box onto Kyouko’s desk and watched Kyouko retrieve her own from her bag.

“Do you make your own lunch?” Sayaka asked.

A reasonable question- most students lived at the school so ate at the cafeteria. “Sometimes.”

It showed- Kyouko’s meal was rather plain in both looks and taste: rice, salmon, cherry tomatoes and a rice cake. Students had access to the kitchens but Kyouko didn’t like going there. There tended to contain an older boy, a Super High School Level Cook or Chef, who asked unsavoury questions while he cooked savoury meals or pretty much any kind of meals.

But she liked knowing what exactly was in her food so she ended up frequenting the kitchens anyway.

“I make my own too,” Sayaka said. “I used to make lunch for my father so it’s second nature for me.”

It was a statement, not a question, so Kyouko dropped her attention to her lunch.

Sayaka picked at her rice with chopsticks. A grain stuck to just above her upper lip after she ate some, which Kyouko noticed when she glanced up upon seeing Sayaka shift slightly in the corner of her eye.

“So... um, your father is the headmaster?” Sayaka raised her chin so she looked at Kyouko directly rather than through her eyelashes. “That’s really cool. You could meet up with him everyday, if you wanted to.”

Only Kyouko never wanted to. She started her salmon. “There aren’t any tangible benefits to it. He treats me in a similar manner to other students.” Which was good because it wasn’t like he was her father anyway. Not anymore.

While Sayaka jabbed at her rice with her chopsticks, she also jabbed at the prickling annoyance brewing in Kyouko’s head. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, being so close to family... that would stop you getting too lonely, wouldn’t it? It must be nice.”

Kyouko no longer felt hungry and stood up. “We’ll have to cut this short. I just remembered there’s somewhere I need to be.”

“Oh, you have to go already?” Sayaka hid her mouth behind her hand, gaze lowered. “It’s not because I made you uncomfortable, is it?”

How acute.

But rather than make excuses, which Kyouko was accustomed to, Sayaka offered Kyouko her hand instead. “I’m sorry. I have a bad habit of being too forward... Let me make it up to you.” Sayaka tapped her chin with the index finger on her other hand until something behind her eyes sparked- a light which brightened her facial features so she glowed. “There’s an ice rink that’s only a ten minute walk from here. I’ll make us both something to eat afterwards and we can have fun together after school on Friday. All expenses paid by me. Does that sound okay?”

An excuse came to Kyouko immediately. “I can’t ice skate.”

“Then I’ll teach you.” The hand Sayaka had extended toward Kyouko trembled just enough that Kyouko glanced at it. “Please?”

Not wanting Sayaka chasing her anymore, Kyouko decided accepting the offer to be the best option if she wanted to satisfy Sayaka and her insistence that she redeem herself. “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

And that should have been the end of that.

* * *

Kyouko considered Sayaka a case already closed. Sayaka was a friendly girl who wanted everyone to like her, and with a personality fitting of an idol who danced and sang on stage in a group, she achieved this more times than she failed. The end. Ice skating would appease Sayaka and they would then go separate ways. As they should- not enough similarities gave reason for them to be together and Sayaka talked too much.

On Friday, when their last lesson finished, Sayaka joined Kyouko at her desk and they walked out of their homeroom together.

“Did you see Yamada-kun’s life drawing?” Sayaka asked as they headed down the corridor, arm furthest from Kyouko swinging a pastel polkadot bag which Kyouko suspected contained the meal Sayaka promised to make them. “I wish I could draw like that. I can only draw stick figures and chibis.”

“He is a Super High School Level Doujin Author,” Kyouko replied. “Incompetency at art would be akin to Asahina-san being a terrible swimmer.”

“True.” Sayaka waved at Touko as they passed her, which only prompted Touko to bow her head and quicken her pace. “She must be going to the library to study.”

Yes. To study Byakuya Togami.

“Hm, she likes Togami-kun a lot, doesn’t she?” Sayaka remarked.

Kyouko stiffened. How did Sayaka know what she had been thinking? Coincidence. Kyouko dismissed it as a logical comment to make. “Hm.”

True to Sayaka’s word, the ice skating rink was indeed a ten minute walk from the school. Thankfully, upon leaving the school grounds, Sayaka fell into silence which Kyouko gladly shared until they arrived.

It was all indoors, orbs of light from the arched ceiling projecting faint circles onto the ice. Kyouko followed Sayaka to the end of a queue. When they reached the front, they swapped their shoes for skates and tottered onto the ice.

A wobble rippled through Kyouko’s legs and she instinctively twisted around and fell onto the rail bordering the ice rink.

Sayaka giggled behind her. “Is this your first time?”

“I went once with my grandfather.” Kyouko straightened up, keeping one hand on the rail. Just like ten years ago. “A decade has passed since then and I didn’t have a knack for it.” Last time, she held her grandfather’s hand while the one on the rail shuffled along, but she didn’t want to ask Sayaka for such support.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” Sayaka said, reminding Kyouko of the promise Sayaka made- to teach Kyouko how to ice skate. “I mean, you don’t want to hold onto the rail the whole time, do you?”

That appealed to Kyouko more than the alternative. But she would look silly staying by the edge while everyone else twirled around and it would be rude to rebuff Sayaka after agreeing to this days before.

Kyouko tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I suppose not. Very well, Maizono-san. I’m all ears.”

Sayaka’s fists sprung up to her chin, her elbows thumping against her jacket’s sides. “All right! So first you need to keep your balance. Don’t jerk your head around too much and try to focus on one point.”

Easy enough. Kyouko jutted out her chin and stared straight ahead. “Now what?”

“Try getting a feel for the ice. Walk parallel to the rail and try to ease up. You look ever so stiff. Keep your knees bent so they’re over your toes and keep your feet in line with your shoulders. Your shoulders should be a tiny bit forward.”

Kyouko took several calculated steps, fighting the urge to cast her eyes downward.

Sayaka marched along beside her. “Great. And you said you didn’t have a knack for it, you silly.”

Although it was no doubt an empty compliment Sayaka gave to be polite, heat rose to Kyouko’s cheeks and she turned away and steadied herself. “It’s too early to make such claims. I haven’t let go of the rail yet.”

She looked past Sayaka and Sayaka soon turned as well- the majority of people on the ice were skating freely, cracking the air with swishes as they threaded through other skaters. Kyouko tightened her grip on the rail. It would take years before she could glide like them.

“I want to see you stand still with your hand off the rail first,” Sayaka said, turning back and smiling. “Then we’ll try skating away from the edge, okay?”

Kyouko peeled her fingers off the rail, remembering what she learned so far. Head still. Eyes up. Legs bent. Weight in the centre.

Sayaka clapped, teeth showing as she beamed. “You’re a natural! The second time I went, I was so afraid of falling that I didn’t let go until the end. I tried skating to the exit and toppled over. I was caught in a limbo of sorts, my weight all over the place, until I just let myself fall forward.”

Was that meant to be encouraging? Kyouko’s hand twitched but she didn’t grab the rail again.

“Okay,” said Sayaka, “so when you skate, you push yourself off with one foot. Then to keep moving, you have to pretend your feet is a snake and its reflection. Angle your toes outward and push them apart, then glide them back together. It’s similar to how a snake moves.”

“How do I stop?”

“Put your toes together and your heels outward. Are you ready?”

Most likely not. “Yes.”

Kyouko heeded Sayaka’s instructions as she attempted to vacate the edge of the rink. Push one foot. Feet in a v-shape then slither out. Push them back in again.

After three of these, Kyouko teetered and would have overbalanced had Sayaka not caught her arm and helped her into a safe position.

“You’re still too rigid,” Sayaka said in a light tone, arm still linked through Kyouko’s. “Relax. You don’t want to use the rail as a crutch the whole time, do you? Skating takes time so you might fall but it’s okay as long as you keep going. Do you want to go further out with me? You’re improving a lot.”

Improving at all, when compared to Kyouko’s first time on ice, wasn’t much of a feat. But Kyouko nodded and the two set off.

They started slow, focusing on gliding smoothly rather than abruptly, and Kyouko found herself staying close not so much because she feared for her own safety but more because she enjoyed staying close to Sayaka. Sayaka, who stabilised Kyouko when she felt Kyouko stray too much in one direction. Who caught Kyouko’s eye when Kyouko sneaked a look at her and grinned with teeth that gleamed like her eyes and cascading blue hair. Who didn’t give up but continued even when Kyouko thought she held Sayaka back, the nook of Sayaka’s elbow leaving Kyouko’s so she could hold her gloved hand instead.

“Isn’t this fun?” Sayaka asked, adjusting her grip on Kyouko’s hand. “To turn, you keep one foot straight while the other snakes. Let’s go left. Ready?”

“Ready,” Kyouko managed, heart thudding against her coat. They veered forward and left, Kyouko’s arm briefly pressing against Sayaka’s until they rounded the corner and skated toward the next one.

“You’re doing great,” said Sayaka. “Shall we stop now?”

“Stop?” Kyouko stared. “We don’t have to get off now, do we?”

“I just want to make sure you know how to.” The corners of Sayaka’s eyes crinkled. “But I’m glad you want to skate more.”

Kyouko proved she could stop if she wished to and they departed the rink half an hour later. Once they returned their rental skates and reunited with their own footwear, Sayaka led Kyouko out of the building and to a nearby park.

Not many people were there- most were at home or on their way home. Late afternoon tinged everything with an orange warmth, from the grass to the high up leaves to the clear pond water. Sayaka located a space close to the water and unzipped her jacket so she could sit on it. While Sayaka got out their bento boxes, Kyouko set her coat down beside Sayaka and sat on it with her knees tucked underneath her chin.

Sayaka leaned back and examined the sky for a minute, chopsticks playing absentmindedly with the sesame seeds in her bento box’s rice. The sun on her face blended with her flushed complexion. “Did you enjoy yourself, Kirigiri-san?”

“Yes,” Kyouko said automatically. She blinked. Yes. She enjoyed herself. She actually enjoyed herself. “You are a brilliant ice skater.”

“Thanks. I had to learn for a performance where we sang on ice,” Sayaka explained, her gaze falling onto Kyouko. “It was hard but I couldn’t let everyone down, could I? My family and my fans depended on me.”

“Family?”

“My idol group. They’re family even if we started with separate ones. And my dad too, because he worked hard everyday so I could have enough money to get started in all this.” She waved a hand. “But the idols I grew up watching and the idols I work with... they’re family too because we built a connection together that’s as strong as blood. Maybe even stronger. They’re all I had as a child and they helped ease my loneliness back then. I want to inspire the same thing in other people.”

Kyouko bit her lip and looked away. “I see.” Maybe Sayaka wasn’t a case closed.

“I had an amazing time today,” Sayaka said. “You always seem to be by yourself and I was worried you were lonely... It didn’t make sense. I mean,” she flexed individual fingers as she counted, “you’re smart and cool and pretty... and now I know you’re fun to hang out with too. And if you want... we can do this again. I’d like that.”

“And I would like that too.” Kyouko smiled and closed her eyes. Her face warmed.

Maybe there were people who were worth getting to know after all, even if she thought she already knew everything important about them.

**Author's Note:**

> i love naegiri but gdi where is the kirizono at???


End file.
